BROOKLIN (Canada): Ontario’s booming organic industry is under attack from “gene pollution”, say farmers. Seed and pollen from genetically modified (GM) plant varieties - oilseed rape in particular - has spread to neighbouring farms, wildlife areas, and roadside verges throughout Canada’s prairie provinces.

The implications for developing countries could be profound, according to the German-based International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). About one-fourth of IFOAM’s 730 member organisations are in the developing world and the federation is concerned that introducing GM crops will not only hurt organic farmers but threaten local agricultural varieties that have been selected and bred for unique climatic zones and regional properties.

Recent reports of genetic contamination of Mexico’s native maize in the southern state of Oaxaca, the birthplace of maize, represent a dramatic case in point. Recent studies show escaped rapeseed has become Canada’s 13th worst weed, according to John Culley, Western Canada research director at Agriculture Canada, the government farming agency.

“We set a gap of 800 metres between GM rapeseed and other crops but our research has shown that is not enough. The rate of spread is quite low but since more than half of our rapeseed crop is transgenic that means a lot of seeds are getting into places that they shouldn’t,” said Culley.

About 61 per cent of Canada’s four million hectares of oilseed rape is planted in genetically modified varieties that are herbicide tolerant (HT). Oilseed rape or Canola, as it is known in Canada - is used mainly to produce processed food ingredients, cooking oils, and livestock feed.

“We’ve lost the organic canola market,” said Mark Loiselle, an organic grower with nearly 567 hectares in Vonda, in the central province of Saskatchewan. If GM plants are found in an organic grower’s crops they can no longer claim organic status and so may lose their livelihoods. Canada’s organic sector had been growing at 30 per cent annually.

Last year, organic oilseed rape paid $12 per bushel more than non-organic; Loiselle would dearly like to supply this market. “I thought biotech crops would be OK if it meant less pesticides but that’s not the way its working,” he said. “All we have is something that benefits the seed and chemical companies.”

“It certainly is a challenge to grow organic canola” because of the movement of pollen and seeds, agreed Hugh Beckie, a scientist at Agriculture Canada’s Saskatoon Research Centre. ”It’s well documented that canola has a 20 to 30 per cent outcrossing rate.”

Two Saskatchewan organic farmers filed a class action lawsuit against biotech giants Monsanto and Aventis on behalf of the more than 1,000 organic farmers whose farms represent about 405,700 hectares in the province. The legal action seeks compensation for damages caused by the GM rapeseed and pollen the plaintiffs say is blowing into their fields. The lawsuit also aims to halt plans to introduce GM wheat in the region.

Wally Hamm, head of Pro-Cert Canada, which represents many of the country’s organic growers, said rogue GM rapeseed had become a “tremendous weed”. He added: “Last year’s contamination meant we’ve lost the organic rapeseed market and the organic honey market and now we could lose the wheat market too.” US organic growers also are finding their maize, including seeds, contaminated with detectable levels of genetically engineered DNA, according to IFOAM, which has members in 103 countries.—Dawn/InterPress Service.